One Small Step
"One Small Step" is the 34th episode of the second season of Exosquad. Summary ExoFleet Jumptroops and E-frames land on The Moon in an attempt to retake it from the Neosapiens. But when Phaeton sends the majority of his E-frames to destroy Exofleet, the e-frames invading the moon are recalled. DeLeon receives permission from Marsh to stay on the moon with the jumptroops to help them. Battles rage both on the moon and in space. Alec DeLeon and Colleen O'Reilly battle Typhonus and kill him, but Alec is fatally wounded in the process. Before he dies he has O'Reilly help him use the black box from Typhonus' e-frame to appear to be Typhonus in a transmission to Phaeton, in which he tells him the Neo pilots are either surrendering or retreating. As punishment for such betrayal, Phaeton activates the self-destruct mechanism on all the Neo e-frames. The combination of this and Alec, as Typhonus, telling the Neo troops on the moon to surrender ends the battle. Afterwards, with Alec DeLeon dead, O'Reilly delivers DeLeon's e-frame black box to Maggie Weston. Synopsis :Click HERE of a detailed synopsis of " " Characters *Alec DeLeon *J.T. Marsh *Nara Burns *Maggie Weston *Avery F. Butler *Vince Pellegrino *Colleen O'Reilly *Typhonus *Phaeton Quotes *Avery Butler, after Winfield orders all e-frames to return to the fleet and Marsh tells Captain Butler his jumptroops will have to do without e-frames: "Without your e-frames we might as well hang targets on our backs!" *Vince Pellegrino, under heavy fire from Neosapien Y-wings and standing next to the Apollo 11 lunar lander: "Tranquility Base, huh? Don't seem too tranquil to me." *The last of Phaeton's great orations: "Of all the creatures who have occupied the earth, it is we, the Neosapiens, who have proved most fit to rule. The door to our future is opening, and beyond that door lies the road to greatness. Life is a journey. Every action we take, every decision we make, large or small, is a step on that journey. Only when we take the last step is the final destination revealed. But you have chosen your future! You will not take your final step in darkness, but in the brilliant flash of ultimate sacrifice. As your enemy crumbles before you, you will know that your journey was not made in vain!" Significant events, revelations, and other notes *Nara Burns mentions that the Neosapien War has lasted three years to this point. *The title refers to Neil Armstrong's quote when he landed on the moon. **The objective of the Apollo Program was to use the moon as a base for exploring the solar system. Exofleet uses the reverse objective, they invade from the solar system and seek to use the moon as a base to invade Earth. *Maggie Weston has been given the black box to Alec DeLeon's e-frame. *Alec DeLeon dies. *Typhonus, who killed Alec, is himself killed by Colleen O'Reilly. *ExoFleet wins the Battle of The Moon. *Typhonus' E-frame was upgraded to withstand the Mega Burst Jamming Device. *Why did Phaeton not send reinforcements to the Moon base before Exofleet's assault? After the attack began he ordered Typhonus to resist the attack until he could send the E-frame reinforcements. Phaeton's refusal to inform Typhonus of the reinforcements earlier indicates the degree of his paranoia. Even with defeat closing in, he still insists on absolute control and not trusting his generals. **Why did it take so long for the E-frames to arrive? Since Phaeton knew that Exofleet was going to attack The Moon, he should have readied the reinforcements to attack when Exofleet was committed to the battle. Was he hoping that Typhonus would be killed in action? *With the end of this battle a Neosapien defeat is all but a certainty. It is likely that in "pulling out all the stops" Phaeton has left a terribly inadequate number of E-frames guarding Earth itself. **None of the Neosapien ships that escaped in "The Price of Courage" are seen in "One Small Step" during the Battle of The Moon. **The episodes "The Price of Courage" and "One Small Step" are similiar to the high cost battles seen in World War II, where defeat meant that one side had lost resources that it could not replace. *During the battle Winfield seems to think total defeat is a possibility, i.e. not only them losing the battle or their lives, but that Phaeton could turn the tide and still win the whole war. Winfield has always been cautious (so much so that Marcus had led a mutiny in "Abandoned"), so it is strange that with momentum on the side of the ExoFleet he would risk the outcome of the war by moving too quickly. **It may be that he wants to retake Earth before Phaeton can build an army of Neo lords ("The Perfect Warrior", "The Price of Courage") or whatever was being worked on at Great Slave Lake (which he believes was destroyed in "The Art of War"). **Another reason could be that Winfield was surprised at the strength of the counterattack. Perhaps he expected Phaeton to maintain a strong reserve force on Earth and not commit the majority of his space capable units. **Another alternative was that Winfield was not expecting an attack in such numbers. Perhaps he had underestimated how many E-frames Phaeton had available for combat. **He showed similiar behavior in "Behind the Shield". He engaged in a risky battle even though his officers raised concerns about the possibility of defeat. In that episode he wanted to invade Venus to avoid a technology war against the Neo megas. *The producers and writers wrote several parallels to World War II into the series. **“The Price of Courage”: the Neosapien’s last-chance attempt to re-conquer venus was a parallel to the Battle of the Bulge. **“One Small Step”: the desperate and costly battle for the Moon was a parallel to the Battle of Okinawa. **“Fifth Column”: the symbolism of Phaeton’s bunker was a parallel to the Führerbunker. **“The Night Before Doomsday”, “Abandon Hope”: the final major combat action, the Battle of Phaeton City (Battle of Chicago), was a parallel to the Battle of Berlin. 47 1 34